Applying the learning community model to graduate education: linking research and teaching between core courses

Abstract

In graduate education, there is often a great divide between classroom learning and research endeavors. Using learning community (LC) values and strategies, our goal is to build stronger and more meaningful ties between these two aspects of graduate education so that students see them as complimentary learning rather than separate components. This article describes a collaborative learning project between two core topics to strengthen links between course concepts and research, raise student interest in regional environmental issues, prepare students for postgraduate success, and help foster LC values. The project requires collaborative learning and integration of individual research to achieve team products, for example, reports and presentations, conference poster, or a manuscript submission to a peer-review journal. Although the LC model is tailored toward undergraduate education, student feedback shows our transfer of its values and strategies into the graduate classroom has been successful in three student cohorts.

Keywords:

• learning community model
• graduate education
• core courses
• collaborative learning
• team research

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mick Beltz and Tami Carmichael for providing feedback on an early draft of the paper and the two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions in the review process. The authors also wish to thank Soizik Laguette, Andrei Kirilenko, and Xiaodong Zhang for experimenting with us and adopting the collaborative learning project strategy in their teaching.